Product Description
Each an acclaimed author in his own right, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle have collaborated on some of the biggest bestsellers in science fiction history, including the No. 1 New York Times bestseller Footfall, as well as Lucifer's Hammer, Inferno, Oath of Fealty, and The Mote in God's Eye. Now Niven and Pournelle have combined their award-winning talents and imaginations to produce a masterpiece of epic fantasy that rivals the works of Robert Jordan and David Eddings.

Set in the world of Niven's popular The Magic Goes Away, The Burning City transports readers to an enchanted ancient city that often bears a provocative resemblance to our own modem society. Here Yagen-Atep, the volatile and voracious god of fire, holds sway, alternately protecting and destroying the city's denizens. In Tep's Town, nothing can burn indoors and no fire can start: by accident -- except when the Burning comes upon the city. Then the people, possessed by Yagen-Atep, set their own town ablaze in a riotous orgy of destruction that often comes without warning.

Whandall Placehold has lived with the Burning all his life. Fighting his way to adulthood in the mean-but-magical streets of the city's most blighted neighborhoods, Whandall alone dreams of escaping the god's wrath to find a new and better life. But his best hope for freedom may lie with Morth of Atlantis, the enigmatic sorcerer who killed his father!

Both gritty and exotic, The Burning City is unique fantasy vision unlike any you have read before.Amazon.com Review
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle have created a unique and believable world set in the universe of Niven's The Magic Goes Away. The story begins nearly 14,000 years ago in Tep's Town, located on the future site of Los Angeles. Tep's Town is a city held captive by the slumbering god of fire, Yagen-Atep. Awakening only occasionally, he commands selected men to begin Burnings by giving them the ability to start fires coupled with consuming anger.

Whandall Placehold grows up in the stagnant, three-class society of Tep's town, part of a gang of thieves. No one gets in or out, since the town is hemmed in by a malevolent forest. But when Whandall is chosen by Yagen-Atep to start the Burnings, he resists the compulsion and, aided by Atlantean wizard Morth, escapes through the forest with a group of children he saves from certain death.

As the years pass, Whandall builds an empire, buys wagons and bison, and builds a trade route all along the California coast--except for Tep's Town. Life is good for Whandall and his bride, Willow, until they get a message from a desperate Morth: he convinces Whandall to return to Tep's Town and help eradicate, once and for all, an ancient magical being from Atlantis who has been trying to kill Morth for many years.

The Burning City is a lively book that deftly integrates social concerns of today with the magic and mythology of yesterday. Cameo appearances by the Native American god Coyote and the Norse god Loki add to the mischievous nature of the book. With a well-thought-out system of magic, characters with depth, unicorns, and swashbuckling adventure, this book is sure to please hardcore fantasy readers and fans of Niven and Pournelle. --Robert Gately ... Read more

Customer Reviews (57)

still cannot figure this book out
I have read all the reviews, and tried repeatedly to read this book. I still cannot figure out this book. It is written in a strange manner, as if the authors are trying NOT to describe things in any comprehensible way. The characters are NOT interesting, there is NO storyline, and events are described so as to be NOT comprehensible. I cannot understand how any of the positive reviews are serious. I keep trying to read this book, but it is not engaging. Is it possible that the authors purposefully wrote it as an exercise in crafting an incomprehensible story? If so, why should I read it. I keep trying to care about the main character, or any characters... no dice.

Wonderful Buy
This is my husbands all time favorite book. He lent his to a friend a couple years ago and never got it back. He was quite upset by that. His copy was in horrible condition, torn, cover falling off, pages falling out. So I checked here on Amazon and got him a used one for 1.00 and when it got here it had the tiniest bit of wear. He and I were very pleased and he was super happy to have it again.

Unusual, remarkable, and satisfying
In the way that Niven and Pournelle have worked on so many books, The Burning City is startlingly realistic and vivid.They have created a world that captures your attention with its unique society and its colorful allusions.The writing at the beginning is like reading someone's diary, but the confusion settles into a mystery and the protagonist's journey to learn brings the reader with him effortlessly.A great read!

Overlong, but largely enjoyable fantasy of the distant past
You don't need to have read Niven's "Magic" books to appreciate the complex fantasy world of this novel, but if you haven't you might wish to try those first before tackling this long and sometimes tedious tome.According to Niven, in a time long past magic was powered by mana, a non-renewable resource which had largely been depleted, forcing magic-users to make careful and sometimes difficult choices.The first half of this book is a reasonably entertaining read, following the education of Whandall Placehold, youthful member of a thieving caste, who becomes involved with the daughter of a Lord and a once-powerful wizard.All-too gradually, we learn about the organization of Tep's Town, and their allegiance to the fire god and his mysterious burnings.Book One comes to a pretty exciting climax (eventually) but Book Two seems to drag on interminably.It's as though the writers were just stalling until the conclusion, which was no big deal when we finally got there.For the most part, a fairly enjoyable read as fantasies go, but not likely to win any new converts to the genre.

Drop your assumptions at the door!
I tripped over this book in a second hand bookstore bargain bin and figured "hey, if it's Niven and Pournelle it can't be bad."

When I got home and read the synopisis I realised it was fantasy, and not their usual sci-fi.I was gutted, and almost didn't read it.

But I gave it a go, and it turned out to be a really refreshing read.If you forget what Niven and Pournelle are famous for and drop all your assumptions at the door, you will be pleasantly surprised.If you are expecting "The Mote in God's Eye" or "Ringworld" you will be disappointed.

The Burning City explores the uneasy life in a City ruled by lords who remain as separate and distant from the populace as they can.Below the Lords are the defeated populace of the original city - the Kinless - who do all the work, and the Lordkin.The Lordkin are the people who put the Lords in power, fighters, but not tradesmen or farmers.They live like parasites off the Kinless.They roam in gangs, stealing, fighting with each other for territory, and dying young.They drink wine and take drugs and then set the city on fire.

So, things in LA haven't changed much since the end of the last Ice age. :)In the World of Niven and Pournelle you have a mirror of modern society.A small elite class (Beverly Hills = Lords), a productive middle class (Citizens = Kinless) and an underclass (Gangs = Lordkin) who all live in an uneasy stasis.Enter Rodney King - or the Fire God - and things explode.

I know this book has been lashed by some, but I found it a really good and very enjoyable read.It is a clever satire on modern SoCal society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (57)

useful for those in recovery
i read this book long before recovering from my various and sundry drug addictions, but re-reading Inferno while attempting the final withdrawal placed the book into a whole new light. (and that may not be a coincidence.. Larry and Jerry were both dealing with their own substance issues at the time of its writing).

of course, everyone should read this book..! but the story, and the many human insights along the way, it may have a special significance to those who are struggling with, or have recently emerged from, any kind of hideous compulsion that they have come to regret, and wish to escape from, but fear that they may never find the way.

A very cool retake on an old theme
Ok, like the Prof said in Animal House, Dante can be boring and difficult to relate to in modern times. Niven and Pournelle recooked the plot into a clever and relevant story.

The astronaut who burned up in a shuttle accident and ended up in hell because of his satyr-like ways. Benito, what a cool addition, I didn't catch on right away but I was getting suspicious and when they dropped the bombshell and his real identity was revealed.. WOW!

Love the book, love everything Niven does... GET BACK TO WRITING YOUR FANS MISS YOU!

Captivating
Moralistic.Absolutist.Catholic.A science fiction writer writing about a science fiction writer.What could be less ingenuous?

I love every page and have read this thing some six or seven times.More than I've read Lord of the Rings.Captivating - really.It's like I pick it up and can't escape.

Try to find a copy through your library before spilling the bucks they're currently asking for this (over $80).After reading it you may want a copy of your own.

I agree
There are many times that I thought, in the course of reading the original "Inferno" by Dante, that somehow somebody should make it into a movie. I agree with the reviewer below: Niven and Pournelle's prose adaptation appeals to a very broad audience, with its contemporary damned and down-to-earth agnostic version of Dante to narrate; it would be very simple (with the right CG effects, of course) to make this into an entertaining movie.
The story zips along smoothly, making the book very hard to put down. I actually finished it in about 4 hours because there really is no 'good' place to stop. I especially enjoyed the fact that the authors remained true to the original concept of Inferno, while at the same time updating and commenting on the original. From this book's perspective Dante and Virgil were the pioneers of hell-travel, and the Inferno is the guide-book these modern-day travelers mentally refer to throughout the novel.
A wonderfully imaginative and - surprisingly -positive book that I thoroughly enjoyed. It's not too hard to pick up a copy used; go find one!

Fun Adolescent Fantasy
This was an enjoyable page-turner, very boy's own adventure (despite its unusual setting), some "if-I-try-I-can-do-it" heroics, no particularly impressive set-pieces (he's no Dante), but it was fun.

From other reviews I'd expected a bit more emphasis on a science-fiction rationalization from the protagonist, but they were rare and subordinate to the action.The ending was satisfying and unexpected.

It wasn't especially comic, despite the opportunities and occasional suspected effort, and it wasn't particularly moving. The characters were cardboard figures, the thrills were absent, the prose itself was utilitarian and unromantic--nonetheless I enjoyed it for what it was, though I won't be reading it again.

Note: a 3 star ranking from me is actually pretty good; I reserve 4 stars for tremendously good works, and 5 only for the rare few that are or ought to be classic; unfortunately most books published are 2 or less. ... Read more

Product Description

Writing separately, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are responsible for a number of science fiction classics, such as the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ringworld, Debt of Honor, and The Integral Trees. Together they have written the critically acclaimed bestsellers Inferno, Footfall, and The Legacy of Heorot, among others.

The Mote In God's Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre.Amazon.com Review
In the year 3016, the Second Empire of Man spans hundreds of star systems,thanks to the faster-than-light Alderson Drive.No other intelligentbeings have ever been encountered, not until a light sail probe enters ahumansystem carrying a dead alien.The probe is traced to the Mote, an isolatedstar in a thick dust cloud, and an expedition is dispatched.

In the Mote the humans find an ancient civilization--at least one millionyears old--that has always been bottled up in their cloistered solar systemfor lack of a star drive.The Moties are welcoming and kind, yet ratherevasive about certain aspects of their society.It seems the Moties have adark problem, one they've been unable to solve in over a million years.

This is the first collaboration between Niven and Pournelle, two masters ofhard science fiction, and it combines Pournelle's interest in the militaryand sociology with Niven's talent for creating interesting, believablealiens. The novel meticulously examines every aspect of First Contact, fromthe Moties' biology, society, and art, to the effects of the meeting onhumanity's economics, politics, and religions. And all the while suspensebuilds as we watch the humans struggle toward the truth. --BrooksPeck ... Read more

Customer Reviews (168)

A Great Sci-Fi Story
As a reader, I have to admit that I don't read a huge amount of sci-fi. I like a good sci-fi story and I've read some of the "classic" sci-fi novel, such as Frank Herbert's DUNE. However, unlike many of my friends who read sci-fi novels, I just can't keep up.A lot of sci-fi authors create an entire universe and after the initial book or trilogy, a lot of action and story are lost.Not only that, but often the devotion to detail and actual scientific probability that some authors have, makes a lot of sci-fi reading rather boring.In general, sci-fi (even the crappy stuff) has good character development, semi-realistic dialogue, and based in reality.On the other hand, in general, sci-fi also often lacks action and suspense (not just the political kind).The best sci-fi books have not only an attention to detail, good character development, and decent dialog but lots of action and suspense.

When a good friend of mine discovered my interest in sci-fi, he gave me his old copy of THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE.He told me that Robert Heinlein had said it was one of the best pieces of sci-fi he had ever read. He also told me he thought it was one of the best sci-fi pieces he had read and he has a huge collection.At that time, I had never heard of Larry Niven or Jerry Pournelle, so I didn't know anything about either author's writing style.

THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE can be taken both literally and figuratively.In the novel, the phrase refers to a star in a particular area of space. However, on a deeper level the phrase can be taken as a metaphor for the aliens the humans encounter. There's also all the Biblical imagery going on about taking the log out of your own eye before complaining about the mote (or speck) in someone else's.

Anyway, the story basically revolves around humanity's first encounter with an intelligent alien race.This race becomes known as the "Moties".The Moties appear somewhat humanoid, but their physiology is much different.In fact, there is a major difference in their physiology that is a key plot element of the story.Although they are a very old race, they appear to be on the verge of intergalactic travel.Two ships are sent through the transportation point in the Mote, a battleship and a cruise ship carrying those who will be part of the scientific and diplomatic part of the mission to Mote space.Initially things seem to be going well, but then the battleship is overtaken by Moties who seem to reproduce overnight.That ship is ultimately abandoned and destroyed.The scientists and diplomats aboard the cruiser do much better and eventually return home with the survivors of the battleship and a group of three Motie ambassadors who want to appeal to the ruling human body for the approval to set up colonies. Unbeknownst to the humans, is that the Moties actually have a secret agenda.

THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE is an excellent piece of sci-fi.It has just the right mixture of action and suspense (both psychological and political), character development, and good dialog.Nothing in the story seemed all that far fetched to me.Other than two inventions loosely based on known science at the time, the science is grounded.Also, the story has a deep historical background since the events of the novel take place within Jerry Pournelle'sCo-Dominium universe. Of course, you don't have to know anything about the Co-Dominium world because what you need to know is explained in the book; the novel is a stand alone work.There's a space battle, a scene where three soldiers attempt to survive in a rural area of Mote Prime, political intrigue, a conniving merchant, a hot-headed admiral, lots of science jargon, a great big mystery, and sex (not graphic).It has something to appeal to all types of sci-fi fans and is all put together very well.

Enjoyable but drags at times..
Most of the details of this book have been hashed out in other reviews.I read the whole book relatively quickly, so I have to say I liked it.

Pro:
- Great alien civilization
- Good ideas regarding travel and the interstellar empire
- Great sections written through the aliens' internal dialog & language

Con:
- Writing, dialog, etc.. is only OK
- Too many throwaway characters
- Several arcs/events which could have been edited away completely without negatively affecting the story
- Very poorly written love story thrown in and strange/unbelievable relationships between human men/women - only one human female character in the entire book!
- Not enough written from the perspective of the Aliens
- The book had plenty of filler

One interesting thing about this book was it essentially had two climaxes.The first is a militaristic sort, the second is diplomatic.After reading the first, I felt the story was going downhill shortly.The second was surprisingly exciting. However there was too much filler between the two climaxes and at the very end of the book.

Really cool book!
I like sci-fi, but I don't illogical/cheap sci-fi.
The Mote in God's Eye is a brilliant book with an exciting story, beautifully narrated and some nice science behind it. I like the realism of it, not putting human kind as the kings of the universe nor technologies that resemble magic.

Bottom line is: read it!!!

A good idea, but somehow lacking in readability
There is part of me that really liked this book just based on the plot device.The whole idea of a truly alien race "stuck in a bottle" was very appealing and original -- even now, thirty some years after it was written.

But I still came out of this book feeling a bit let down overall.I won't rehash all the points made by the other reviewers who gave it four stars or less.For the most part, I agree with a good majority of their more erudite observations of inconsistencies, lack of character depth and datedness of prose.

But I do feel it necessary to add a couple of comments to the bucket just for the personal cathartic experience of doing so.

First, for a novel this long that has quite a bit of realistic detail, why did the authors decide to go so flat on the first contact with aliens?

*** (Don't read on if you don't want a spoiler.) ***

When the two human warships enter the Motie system and make first contact with the first living, sentient species in the history of mankind... it's all very humdrum and commonplace.There's no fireworks written into this momentous occasion, the biggest moment in mankind's history.Nobody on the ship is terribly excited.Nobody is particularly fearful.Very little criteria for first contact is put in place or carried out with an eye toward proper communication, safety, quarantine, or just good sense (Other than one warship standing by to destroy the other in case of trouble -- which was a good and believable scenario, but it didn't go far enough with the reality of the situation).In fact, a lone midshipmen is sent with no fanfare to blindly go aboard an alien ship where he then proceeds to take off his mask and breathe the air as if this kind of thing happens every day.No fear of germs.No fear of contamination to either side.No concern about breathing poison and dying instantly.And, most of all, no concern about the sociological, psychological, physical aspects of meeting an alien race for the first time.It was just so silly and flat.Especially since this book was written in the era of Apollo, and those of us who are old enough can remember all the rigamarole that NASA and the astronauts went through to avoid any kind of contamination or disease.Pournelle and Niven treated this first contact like a humdrum walk down a long vanilla corridor in a dreary office building.No pomp and circumstance.No reality.This poorly planned inconsistency took me way, way out the prerequisite sense of disbelief that is required when reading fiction such as this.And I had a hard time getting it back.

I didn't care for the fact that the Moties could pick up our languages and mannerisms in twenty-seven seconds of listening to a few people chat (I exaggerate, but not by much).And suddenly, apparently every Motie in the Mote solar system can speak perfect English.And yet, no human will ever be able to learn or mimic the Motie speech.This was an unnecessary device that stretched my patience.

Why was the Bury character in the story at all? He did relatively nothing to advance the plot.Further, his character seemed to have been flip flopped between the two authors as the persona from the first part of the book bore little resemblance to the persona in the second part of the book.And I don't mean just because he got scared by some aliens in the big evacuation.His personality just didn't flow properly from page first to page last.Not to mention, he was an entirely unnecessary character who had no reason to be in the story or on a warship.It felt like he was supposed to be a bigger cog in the narrative at some early stage in the planning of the novel.And then, at some point, his entire plot device was thrown away.And what could the writer's do? This was in the era before Word Processors.They couldn't just go edit him out in any simple fashion.So he stayed in the story.And he was completely and utterly unnecessary (and unbelievable).

I second and third a somewhat minor complaint that is mentioned by others in these reviews.I got confused with all the characters.Few of them stood out enough to make their names have resonance with me.So I was continually trying to figure out just who was who.There were two scientists whose names started with "H".I still don't know which was which.And one of them was just completely a throw away character who did not deserve all the print that was devoted to him.Then, there were a whole slew of midshipmen who were integral to one or two pages of plot here and there.I still don't know which was which, just who died, who made it back, who was even necessary at all.And, quite frankly, by the middle of the book I just didn't care anymore.I just kept reading and let my attention to detail reduce by a few decibels.

And lastly, my favorite phrase in the whole novel (and it is so good it is repeated twice in the book) is, "Good girls don't use the pill".Oh, I got a fantastic belly laugh out of that one.It's especially great because a similar line and sentiment was also used in another book by these same authors, Lucifer's Hammer.These poor guys were so lacking in real world knowledge, even back then!Yes, I was there.I was riding along through the seventies while they were writing this book.And I guarantee you, nobody that I knew would have ever uttered or endorsed that line.These authors were... well... science fiction authors.That kinda says it all, I guess.Didn't get out of their lonely dark writing rooms very much.I know, that's a disparaging and probably unfair and even slanderous judgement.But hey, they wrote that line in earnestness.How can I not make fun?

Yes, my review tends to the negative on these few points.But don't get me wrong, I did not despise the book.From the middle to the end, despite the difficulties, I was pretty engrossed.The authors went a long way in describing pretty believable empires, both in the human galaxy and in the Motie system.They did a good job with their hardware and their space travel concepts.The characters, although lacking, are at least enjoyable for the most part.And I did like the ending.It was not a "last page letdown after devoting such a healthy portion of my reading lifetime to it" book, like so many other long books out there (Lucifer's Hammer, for one).

But be forewarned that the book is a product of its era (and of its sexually reclusive authors).If you can approach it from that viewpoint and you like medium hard science fiction, it's probably worth a read.You'll have to slog through a lot of tedious page turning to start.But once it gets going, it is not half bad.It's no more than a three out of five star read, though.

Elite Science Fiction
Even 35+ years later, The Mote in God's Eye was one heck of a great SF novel.I really enjoy the first contact idea, and this one is done so well!I thought for sure this book would show it's age but in most parts it feels like it could have been written recently.The story is compelling and kept me glued to the end, and it was a very long book.I enjoyed this much more than Rendezvous with Rama, another older classic.This is certainly one of my SF favorites of all time.Highly recommended! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (58)

Niven and Pournelle give fanservice
A dated book, and definitely not Niven and Pournelle's best. Instead of global warming, the Earth is being covered by glaciers, thanks to those silly environmentalists and all their anti-pollution laws, which literally reversed the Greenhouse Effect. Two astronauts from the space habitats still orbiting the Earth are shot down over North America, and have to be rescued, by sci-fi fans. (Hah, see me use "sci-fi" deliberately just to annoy all the SF pedantists?) Half ego-fluffing for SF fandom, half polemic against environmental laws and politicians who cut the budget for the space program, this novel read like ranty fan fiction, and the writing, honestly, was not much better. I gave it three stars mostly because of my lingering fondness for Niven and Pournelle and because I'm just geeky enough to have caught most of the in-jokes, but if you're going to read this, I highly recommend getting the free ebook from the Baen Free Library.

Awesome!
Other reviewers have pretty much said it all, so I'll be short and to the point: this is one of my all-time favorite books.It also got me into the genre of filk music (NOT a typo; SF/F music).I heartily recommend this novel.I've reread my copy so often I've almost worn it out.

A Powerful and Entertaining Alternate History
This book is copyright 1991, and I found it in one of my book boxes and the garage when I was looking for something else. I looked at the cover, read the back, and could not remember reading it. Only as I got into it I could miraculously predict a few of the plot twists, but nothing ever solid. What 20 years does to memory!

This book is from the days of Niven and Pournelle's fruitful collaboration which lasted from the mid 1970s to the beginning 1990s. They still collaborate now, as far as I can tell, although less frequently. Pournelle is 76, and Niven 71. Of their collaboration, I read: The Mote in God's Eye, Lucifer's Hammer, Oath of Fealty, Footfall, The Legacy of Heorot and The Gripping Hand, all by Niven and Pournelle.

The story relates to today's events surprisingly much through unexpected twists of history. It plays now, or approximately now, perhaps any time between 2010 and 2030. The only way I can tell is because the year 2008 is referenced as the past. You have to remember, though, that this was written around 1990, so to them they went some 30 years into the future and projected what it would be like.

Saddam Hussein is mentioned, only as a dictator who "covered the Persion Gulf with oil" in the context of being a polluter. The space stations Mir (Russian) and Freedom (International) play a core plot role. And there is global warming as the central political theme, along with the movement of the environmentalists, greens, tree huggers and environmental extremists, like Earth First.

Imagine a world where the environmental movement got the upper hand in about 1990 when global warming first started appearing as a buzzword and the pollution in the US was at its peak. You could set the Cuyahoga River on fire. Imagine that the environmentalists became the dominant power. Strict legislation curbing pollution of any kind had several effects: First, the world quickly became clean and the greenhouse gases were reduced to the point where global cooling started setting in, and a mini ice age started. Glaciers covered most of Canada and encroached on South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Every year, new towns were overcome by the ice, new freeways were covered by the relentless and rapid push of the glaciers. A side-effect, of course, was that commerce and entrepreneurialism was reduced, the economies shrunk and widespread poverty overtook the country. Anarchy ruled in townships, despots abused the local resources and their people. Finally, the government became powerful and controlling, with the Green Police, a corrupt branch of the executive, wielding power along with the FBI, NSA, Secret Service, the military and of course the various local police forces. Ordinary people were harrassed by the Green Police for violations of the thermostat laws (you could not turn them above 55 F). People routinely froze to death in their homes in winter, and this was accepted as normal. Let's not cut down wood for fire, waste valuable trees and pollute the air.

The most poignant side effect of this movement was a general hate of technology, science and industry. Scientists were prosecuted unless they worked on "appropriate science" or "appropriate technology." Appropriate was determined by the government, and you might guess that it included everything that the government needed to control the masses: police cars, helicopters, weapons, communications devices. You see where this is going: Inappropriate technology was any space technology (what a waste of resources), flying, computer science, anything not directly related to survival and law enforcement. This conjures up images of Atlas Shrugged, where the government alone decides what is good for the people. It also has a few parallels to Soylent Green. People who love science fiction, the readers as well as the writers, are reviled and actually outlawed. Science fiction books are banned and burned. Science fiction becomes an underground movement, promoted by "fans" ofscience fiction. And it's the fans that are the protagonists in Fallen Angels.

Eventually, the earth and its inhabitant lose, among many other capabilities, the ability for space flight. However, when this happened, the two space stations Mir and Freedom were orbiting and thriving, and there are dozens of people who permanently live in space. People are born in space. Many have not been on earth for 30 years or more. Young people have never been on earth. They call themselves floaters. On earth, they are called "angels" by the fans and sometimes by the populace, since they "fly" in the "heavens." The spacers mine the moon for minerals and particularly oxygen. But it is difficult to recycle everything, so shortages are severe and the completely closed system of the space stations is dangerously out of balance. One resource they need to get from earth is nitrogen. So they have fashioned scoopers, which are spacecraft that can dip into the atmosphere, scoop up some air, and skip back out into orbit without losing too much velocity to meet up with the stations again. Alex and Gordon, two angels, fly such a scooper when they are shot down by a missile, since the governments of earth consider the scoops stealing of air and therefore an act of war.

Alex and Gordon crash-land on a glacier in Minnesota. There are no spaceships on earth, and there are no spaceships in space that actually can land and take off again. To make matters complicated, due to having been in free fall all their lives, they cannot walk and are certainly not familiar with the ways of the world on earth.

This is the story of what happens to the fallen angels.

Very disappointing
I had high expectations from this book, having been a huge fan of Larry Niven's work in the past.Unfortunately, I found it uninspired and somewhat incomprehensible.

The heroes are based around convention-attending sci-fi fans as the last bastions of science in a world run by flakes.They rally to rescue crashed residents of the now disenfranchised space-stations.The foes seem to be crystal gazing numbskulls called greenies.

The characterisation of greenies as incompetent and science hating leaves me wondering whether the book is attempting to make a political statement. If so it fails for over-simplification of the characters.

Also, in a book where the emphasis is on how terrible it is that science is not taken seriously the authors themselves appear to ignore the scientific basis of fields such as climatology, ecology and environmental science.

In its defense I acknowledge that it is difficult to write enduring near future science-fiction.The publication date in my copy was 1993, which as another reviewer pointed out was before Al Gore brought the issue of global warming to popular attention.Also on the positive side, someone did a great job editing the 3 writing styles into a consistent voice.

In conclusion it is readable, but not particularly engaging, thought-provoking or believable.

Vernor Vinge did an excellent job of portraying a marginalized scientific community in The Peace War.You might consider this as an alternative.

Enjoyed this.
The story was basically fluff, but fun fluff.I really enjoyed it, if for nothing more then because it ticks off the greens.PC this book ain't, but that's OK.I'm sick of PC these days.Read it.Laugh.Then read some actual science about "climate change" instead of the "political" science being crammed down our throats for the last two decades or so. ... Read more

Product Description
Guides readers through Ringworld, a land area of seven million Earths populated by strange and wonderful beings. By the author of Tales of Known Space. ... Read more

Product Description
Larry Niven created his popular "Magic Goes Away" universe in 1967, and it has been a source of delight and inspiration ever since. By asking the simple question, What if magic were a finite resource?, Niven brought to life a mesmerizing world of wonder and loss, of hope and despair. The success of his first story collection, The Magic Goes Away, birthed two sequel anthologies, The Magic May Return and More Magic. All three volumes are collected here for the first time, with stories by Niven himself, as well as contributions by such luminaries of fantasy as Roger Zelazny, Fred Saberhagen, Steven Barnes, and Poul Anderson.

Featuring a brand-new introduction by Larry Niven, The Magic Goes Away Collection gives readers insight into the breathtaking world of Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The Burning City and Burning Tower and stands on its own as a landmark in fantasy fiction ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent stories dealing with Magic
"The Magic Goes Away Collection" has stories from three separate collections of stories that are from "The Magic Goes Away" fantasy universe created by Larry Niven. All the stories are good.I think Larry Niven's stories are particularly good.

The novella, "The Magic Goes Away", was the start of this universe and is based on a new concept for Magic universes.Larry did good!

There are some stories by other authors, but they are good, too.

I recommend this book for anyone who has ever enjoyed a magic-centered fantasy.

The magic has returned!
The idea of magic as a non-renewable resource is such a simple, logical concept that once you see it you wonder why everyone isn't treating it that way.It just makes everything so much more interesting because it ties magic in with the real world.This is a great collection of stories by various authors.As you might expect, because of this the styles and quality tend to vary as well, which is why I took off a star.

Variable quality, but engaging "SF-fantasy" from 9 authors
Larry Niven fans should be aware that this book features work by nine authors, including Niven himself. He contributes a one-page introduction, "The Magic Goes Away" itself, "Not Long Before The End", and "The Lion In His Attic". There is also "Talisman", a collaboration between Niven and Dian Girard. Of the 358 pages, Niven alone contributes 125 (35 percent); if you include "The Talisman", this rises to 160 pages (45 percent).

For my money, the first two stories stand head and shoulders above the rest (with one exception). "The Magic Goes Away" is more of a novella than a novel, running just 90 pages, but its striking originality makes it linger in your mind. The basic thesis is that magic used to exist, long ago, but that it depended on a natural resource called mana which the magicians of the time depleted, just as we are using up fossil fuels. This simple change to our understanding of the universe allows Niven to construct an elaborate "alternative history" while technically keeping one foot in the domain of science fiction. For instance, we read how Atlantis was preserved by spells woven by its priest-kings, which gave way when Greek invaders killed the priests. The plot concerns how a group of sorcerers join together, in spite of powerful enmity and distrust, to find some new source of mana - without which their longevity spells will lapse, dooming them to immediate death (as they are all hundreds of years old). Their quest involves crossing the ocean on cloud-tops, and planning to steal the last surviving god from its place of rest.

"Not Long Before The End" is a "prequel" to "The Magic Goes Away", giving a full account of a critical incident merely referred to in the earlier story. Although only ten pages long, it has the mixture of excitement andintellectual adventure that characterize Niven's best work. "The Lion In His Attic" is set in a drowned castle, years after the flooding of Atlantis. Two strangers arrive, ostensibly on honeymoon, but actually seeking a magic emerald. They make the mistake of underestimating the "lion" of the title, who is actually a were-sealion. "The Talisman", co-authored with Dian Girard, though perhaps less ambitious and more subtle, paints an equally fascinating picture of magicians, thieves, kings, and soldiers.

The other stories are a mixed bunch, but none of them is less than readable. Fred Saberhagen contributes "Earthshade", an elegant miniature that neatly imports the Greek pantheon into Niven's "magic" universe. Less exalted, earthier and more complicated is Dean Ing's "Manaspill", which deals with how a court magician might use a windfall of mana to further his ambitions. I admit to being rather baffled by Steven Barnes' "...But Fear Itself", with its mystical vision of an enslaved tribe that uses the magical power of its children to wreak a terrible revenge on their oppressors. Poul Anderson is a writer whose books I have alway enjoyed, and "Strength", which he co-wrote with Mildred Downey Broxon, is the sort of post-apocalyptic adventure in which he excels. Shalindra, the widow of a sorcerer, rescues the hunter and practical man Brandek after a shipwreck, and the story develops the tension between her yearning after the old ways of magic and his determination to make a fresh start using simple technology.

Then we come to "The Shadow Of Wings" by Bob Shaw, another fine example of the "magician conspiring against the king" sub-genre. Even King Marcurades, who comes across as a blend of Alexander the Great and Edison, is a pawn in the hands of those who control mana - as long as they do control it, that is. And then, just as the book is nearly finished, we come to the best surprise of all: a fine piece of work by no less an author than Roger Zelazny! The protagonist of "Mana From Heaven" is a sorcerer at the height of his powers, but he is threatened by unknown assailants for reasons he cannot guess. No one has ever been better at telling this kind of story, and Zelazny does not disappoint.

I began by being aggrieved that Niven had written less than half of this book, but the more I read the more I liked it. The other authors (apart from Zelazny) may not quite rise to the levels of which Niven is capable, but they introduce a fascinating variety of points of view and emotional climates. All in all, strongly recommended!

It's about time
Larry Niven, primarily known for his hard science fiction, is equally adept at fantasy."The Magic Goes Away", his masterpiece in this genre, has been out of print for years, and increasingly difficult to obtain.At last, it is available again. ... Read more

Product Description
It's the American Revolution all over again. But this time it's a ragtag band of space colonists vs. the United States. And the fate of the world hangs by a thread--200 miles above the earth.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The Descent of Anansi
In the not-so-distant future, Falling Angel Industries is headquartered ona Lunar-orbiting space station, constructed from used STS External Tanks.FA has just produced 1,400 kilometers of the strongest cable everproduced-single-crystal iron suspended in an epoxy matrix, .8 millimetersthick. Two companies- Brazil Techimotores-Electronics and OyamaConstruction have bidded for the cable, and Oyama has won. Transporting thecable from Falling Angel to LEO via the Space Shuttle Anansi/Ion Drive TugGabriel, the six-day voyage gives BTE enough time to join forces with agroup of Iranian terrorists. Stealing and launching a Soviet Prometheusground-to-orbit missile, they destroy the Gabriel and cripple the Anansiand cable re-entry pod, also killing an Anansi crewmember. With the Anansistranded in orbit, with no way to re-enter and no way to get back toFalling Angel, BTE launches two Space Shuttles. Their mission: retrieve thecable, and finish the job that the missile didn't complete . . . . Destroythe Anansi and her crew.

Readable
I had a bit of trouble following some of what was going on.The romance seemed a bit forced to make the story more interesting.

Great read!
Wonderful book ! Pay no attention to other carping comments.The book thatmade me understand about tides. It has believable characters, great plot,tension--this should be made into a movie. I'm already casting theprincipal characters in my mind...

decent read
This book is a fluffy but fun read about some Brazilians going to the moon.It has a large cast of characters with difficult names.It reminds one of "Outland" more than any known space books.What the heck...it's a hoot.Not much substance but an entertaining airplane book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Flash Crowd, Grendel, Procrustes, Inconstant Moon, Flatlander, Neutron Star, the Magic Goes Away, the Borderland of Sol, at the Core, the Soft Weapon, the Return of William Proxmire, the Jigsaw Man, the Defenseless Dead, the Handicapped, the Hole Man, Death by Ecstasy, Arm. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: "Grendel" is an English language science fiction short story written in 1968 by Larry Niven. It is the fourth in the series of Known Space stories featuring crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer. The short story was originally published in Neutron Star, Larry Niven, New York: Ballantine, 1968, pp. 51-72 (ISBN 0-345-29665-6), and reprinted in Crashlander, Larry Niven, New York: Ballantine, 1994, pp. 57-101 (ISBN 0-345-38168-8). Beowulf "Bey" Shaeffer, ex-chief pilot for the now-defunct Nakamura Lines on a two-year sabbatical from Earth and on a flight between Down and Gummidgy, befriends both fellow passenger Emil Horne, a top-flight computer programmer, and the captain of the Argos, Margo Tellefsen. Shaeffer and Tellefsen "talk shop" about space travel, and she and Shaeffer spend much of her free time together, but when Emil asks how hes doing with her, Shaeffer tells him hes not really trying. Shaeffers and Emil mostly interact over cards and drinking; when Margo tells Shaeffer shes dropping out of hyperdrive outside the Gummidgy system to show the passengers a starseed setting sail, Shaeffer invites Emil to join him and they get front row seats for the event. One of the ET passengers, a Kdatlyno touch sculptor named Lloobee, a sightless ten-foot humanoid with clawed hands, knees and elbows, sits next to Shaeffer during the event and Shaeffer suddenly realizes the Kdatlyno can see nothing of the starseed setting sail outs...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=5662358 ... Read more

Product Description
Ranging from the 20th Century to the 31st, these interconnected stories trace Man's expansion and colonization throughout the galaxy...

Becalmed in hell
Howie's spaceship had a malfunction...but it might be only psychosomatic!

Wait it out
He was trapped on Pluto...and all his assets were frozen!

The borderland of Sol
Forward possessed the ultimate weapon...but no one would ever see it!

The jigsaw man
The organ banks want you...now!

Cloak of anarchy
They were free to be anything but violent...but that wasn't enough!

-- plus eight other great stories in Niven's spectacular cycle of the future...and, special for this volume, a complete Niven bibliography and a detailed chronology of all his Known Space stories! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Early Larry Niven
Known Space is the huge area of the galaxy in which man has explored, though not necessarily settled.In this vast area events occur that are filled with intrigue, wonder and adventure.InHowie's very unusual spacecraft has developed a fault that might require some canny thought to fix it.In the hero is marooned on Pluto trapped in an eternal vigil that may never end in rescue.In Lew Knowles bemoans the unfairness of both fate and the law, but will he escape both?Niven has a knack for entertaining his readers by including the surprising and unusual.Of course I cannot give you any examples as that would spoil the book.

This is a collection of thirteen short stories, but has a little of the feel of a novel.Niven has invented a future history for mankind stretching from the 20th Century to the 31st. and all of these stories fit into that imagined chronicle. Some of these tales refer to one another, and others refer to other stories in this series that are published in other books.The book has a time line showing the major 'historical' events and most of the stories Niven has written in this series.This volume is arranged in time line order so the reader gets a sense of progression and development as he moves through the book.

The best stories in this volume areand .The first gets my vote because of its wide-eyed, aghast humor and the second because of its relevant social comment.The least interesting are and . is Niven's first published story and unfortunately lacks plot.Niven explains in his introduction that he thought of rewriting it but eventually decided against that idea.At 47 pages is by far the longest tale in the book and unfortunately the quasi-scientific hoo-ha bored me.

If you like this book, which on the whole I did, you will probably also enjoy Neutron Star, Protector, The World of Ptavvs (Tales of known space), Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers (Ringworld) all of which are in this future history series.

Early Larry Niven
Known Space is the huge area of the galaxy in which man has explored, though not necessarily settled.In this vast area events occur that are filled with intrigue, wonder and adventure.InHowie's very unusual spacecraft has developed a fault that might require some canny thought to fix it.In the hero is marooned on Pluto trapped in an eternal vigil that may never end in rescue.In Lew Knowles bemoans the unfairness of both fate and the law, but will he escape both?Niven has a knack for entertaining his readers by including the surprising and unusual.Of course I cannot give you any examples as that would spoil the book.

This is a collection of thirteen short stories, but has a little of the feel of a novel.Niven has invented a future history for mankind stretching from the 20th Century to the 31st. and all of these stories fit into that imagined chronicle. Some of these tales refer to one another, and others refer to other stories in this series that are published in other books.The book has a time line showing the major 'historical' events and most of the stories Niven has written in this series.This volume is arranged in time line order so the reader gets a sense of progression and development as he moves through the book.

The best stories in this volume areand .The first gets my vote because of its wide-eyed, aghast humor and the second because of its relevant social comment.The least interesting are and . is Niven's first published story and unfortunately lacks plot.Niven explains in his introduction that he thought of rewriting it but eventually decided against that idea.At 47 pages is by far the longest tale in the book and unfortunately the quasi-scientific hoo-ha bored me.

[...]

Best of Niven, yet still average SF
I've read nearly all of Niven's sci-fi novels and short story collections, so I maintain certain expectations with Niven's work. His collection of work tends to have a certain amateurish feel, which is based off of his Known Universe. Now, not ALL of the work is of amateur quality, but some of the short stories seem straight forward dead ends (like A Hole in Space). Other collections seem so focused on one point that each story seems a rehash of the others (like Flatlander). Then, somehow, Niven manages to collect some stories which shine in the Known Universe (like Neutron Star). Here in Tales of Known Space, Niven repeats his flagship work in Neutron Star.
Compared to other of Niven's work, this is a 5-star book.
Compared to other sci-fi authors, this is a 3.5-star book.

Not Free SF Reader
A collection of stories from Niven's multi-era Future History, which some introduction to each part.The stories themselves only average 3.23, but do show the interesting structure of this universe, from early solar system exploration, to interstellar conflict.

Tales of Known Space : The Coldest Place - Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space : Becalmed in Hell - Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space : Wait It Out - Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space : Eye of an Octopus - Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space : How the Heroes Die - Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space : The Jigsaw Man - Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space : At the Bottom of a Hole - Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space : Intent to Deceive [The Deceivers] - Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space : Cloak of Anarchy - Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space : The Warriors - Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space : Madness Has Its Place - Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space : There Is a Tide - Larry Niven
Tales of Known Space : Safe at Any Speed- Larry Niven


Ship brain Mercury trip.

3 out of 5


Ship brain Venus trip.

2.5 out of 5


Corpsicle decision.

3 out of 5


Martian mummy is da bomb.

3.5 out of 5


Martian indeceny.

1.5 out of 5


Organlegging escape.

4 out of 5


Martian mistake.

3.5 out of 5


Luncheon loop.

3.5 out of 5


Free Park experiment not bright.

4 out of 5


Cat ship fry.

3 out of 5


ARM to schizo arm.

3.5 out of 5


Wu Pak Big lure.

4 out of 5


Living in your car.

3 out of 5

good early stuff
thought provoking examinations of the social effects of
technological change, which seems to me to be one of the
primary purposes of sci-fi, and can therefore be forgiven
for its failure to be perfectly accurate in predicting
what will happen when (plus, i like the old stuff, and am
willing to add 100 years to whatever the old stories come
up with).i highly recommend these stories since niven's
near-future look is worthwhile compliment to his distant
galaxy hopping work, even if it may not perfectly fit in
his later conception of his universe. ... Read more

Product Description
A solitary mountain rises from the searing, toxic blackness of the planet. The organ banks are the centre of this world. To them the subservient colonists contribute living limbs, and from them the overlords obtain the vital parts that keep them alive. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Really Good Classic Niven
If you've never read one of Niven's stories, this is probably not the one to start with.Start with the short story collections, like Tales of Known Space.But when you get hooked on his style and find that you can't get enough, do come back to it, buy it, and you will enjoy it thoroughly.It's a really fun, very well-rounded look at a colony whose founders choose, at its inception, to divide its society into haves and the have-nots.

Super Reader
Invisible man wild card.

This book is set in the part of Niven's future history where organlegging as such, is very common. Set on a colony world the wealthy want access to body parts, so any crime gets you executed and recycled for their use.

Throw in a wild card superpowered outsider with basically the power to cloud men's minds and things get interesting.

Not a big deal
About the happenings on a planet colony of Earth made up of different
plateaus (Alpha, Beta, Gamma).You fall off the plateau, you're dead.
The planet is run by a dictatorship. There are two classes of people,
colonists and crew.Crime is punished by organ dissasembly.Your organs
end up in an organ bank.The crew benefits from the mostly colonist
crime.The police force is called Implementation.There's a rebel group
called the Sons of Earth that want to overthrow crew rule.The power
centers / hospitals / police headquarters are located on and around the
landed space ships.The fusion drives provide electrical power for the
plateaus.Delivery arrives from Earth.Heart and liver beasts.

Implementation raids a Sons of Earth party.A mutant with the psychic
ability to make people forget him and / or become fascinated by him escapes.Goes to rescue a girl crush he met at the party.Rescues some
of the Sons of Earth leadership.Tries second time.Gets her out of
coffin cure.She goes nuts, breaks into the defunct ship control room,
starts jets, gets ship to fall over the Edge.Mutant escapes
death, joins new world order.Somewhere off into space, an alien race
is headed toward this world -- they will probably give them hyperspace
drive.

I'll have to read the next book in the series for all of this to make
sense -- there's probably a grand plan, not just disjointed stories.
Is there a second book? Is this a series?

One of Larry's early novels
I used to a big Larry Niven (Lawrence Van Colt) fan.And this story is from the days when I would search high and low for a good novel that Larry made.Now, is this novel bad?Not really.Is this novel great?Far from it.

This novel was written at the beginning of the 1970s.So, it's a little dated.This novel was written before the implications of transplants were fully understood; if you have a general transplant you'll spend pretty much the rest of the your life on anti-rejection medicine.Larry's writing treated humans body organs as spare parts; a kidney from person "A" would work just fine in person "B".

There are two parts to this book.First, the main character works and is slightly oppressed by an overclass of "crew"; the dictators of this world.The second part of this book deals with gifts from earth, basically engineered animals that live off the "gunk" in a human body.

I liked this novel.It's fast paced and a fun, light read.It's dated, that's for sure.This was written long before DNA, RNA, and the implications of stem cells.So, while the characters of this novel are taking spare body parts and giving them to another person it's completely out of the gasp to merely grow new parts.

This novel is enjoyable if you're a Niven fan.But if you're not a Niven fan it's plain obsolete.Don't read it.It will sour your taste for better works of Larry.Personally, the short stories in "Neutron Star" and the (somewhat flawed) Ringworld and Ringworld Engineers are Larry's best accomplishments.So, if you read and don't like this novel then you may not read the other three.That would be a shame.

So, if you're not a Niven fan then this novel is a one star.If you're a Niven fan then this old book is three stars.The average is 2 stars; not great.

Enjoy.

One of Niven's worst novels, an improbable tale of rebellion
A GIFT FROM EARTH, the second of Larry Niven's full-length novels set in the Known Space universe, is a tale of a rebellion on the colonized world Plateau. It's also one of Niven's weakest works.

Plateau is a Venus-like cauldron with only one habitable area, the giant mountain Mt. Lookitthat. When the slowboats sent by the UN reached it, the crew, who had worked hard for 30 years to bring the ship to Plateau, decided to set up a dictatorship over the colonists, who were frozen in statis during the journey. The Crew's power over the Colonists is their control of the Hospital and their ability to punish criminals by the death penalty and extract their organs to prolong the life of those loyal to the Crew. This story is set in the first half of Niven's Known Space universe (2000-2400), and shows the same obsession over the death penalty and organ transplantation as other works of that era, such as the Gil "the Arm" Hamilton stories collected in FLATLANDER.

Change comes to Plateau in the form of a UN ramrobot carrying blueprints for improved alloplasty (using gadgets instead of organs). Such a development threatens the existence of the status quo and the Crew scrambles to deal with the situation. The Sons of Earth, a Colonist rebel group, decide to seize the moment. Their new hero is Matt Keller, an unassuming young man with a physic power of invisibility through making others not notice him.

The novel is full of improbable developments, and Matt's power essentially makes him a superman, which means there's little intrigue or depth because Matt can get through anything. The characters seem like they came out of 1960's America, as the women are submissive and everybody has American names, plus nobody seems to use the metric system. This novel was published in 1968 and it's difficult to see why it is so immature, considering that at the same time Niven wrote a number of Known Space short stories that were really excellent. Perhaps A GIFT FROM EARTH was simply an early work that he couldn't get published until years later. In any event, it is so pulpish that it is difficult to read.

A GIFT FROM EARTH is one of the last books to read in the Known Space universe. I'd definitely recommend reading the Gil "the Arm" Hamilton stories collected in FLATLANDER, which gives a history of organ transplanting highly helpful to understand A GIFT FROM EARTH, and Niven's most acclaimed novel RINGWORLD. ... Read more

Product Description
The sequel to "The Legacy of Heorot". Twenty years ago, the colonists of Avalon waged a war against the grendels, reptilian creatures larger than alligators. Now the younger members of the colony want to explore the mainland where the grendels still roam - and claim the entire planet for humankind. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

The Dragons of Heorot
I found this a fun read that kept my attention page after page. Not the most technically accurate premis, but not so far off that I couldn't overlook the stretches of imagination. The characterizations were well done, the individual characters fully fleshed and the plot(s) devious and interesting. With so many science fiction stories out there, it's hard to come up with something novel, but this story does it very nicely. This is a familiar Earth-colonizes-a-living-world story, but the world is very cleverly constructed like non-other I've read before. A whole eco-system is described that fits together to present the characters with mortal challenges on a stage of the author's imagination. Well done and very entertaining!

Not Free SF Reader
This is also called Beowulf's Children, and deals with what happens to a future generation on the planet Heorot.They have some knowledge of what goes on around the planet now, of course, but they still have to deal with it, and keep trying to forge ahead and create a civilisation.Not as interesting as the first book.

Released under different title in US
This book was released under a different title in the United States.If you are looking for the title in print, look under "Beowulf's Children."

Good sequel to The Legacy of Heorot
For those of you who like me enjoyed The Legacy Of Heorot, Dragons is a worthwhile sequel.
Set twenty years after the events of Legacy, we see the inhabitants of the planet Avalon, living their lives on the island they secured for themselves, following the events of the previous book.
However, the children of the survivors of the fight against the grendels wish to branch out onto the mainland. Despite the reluctance of their elders, they set about how to do this. Led by the headstrong and ruthless Aaron Tragon, they then go ahead and set up an outpost which they call Shangri La. However, this outpost turns out to be anything but the perfection that the name implies, and they discover to their cost that human nature remains as traitorous as ever. Additionally, they also find out that there is a life form on the mainland that is even more lethal than the grendels themselves.....

The book explores the interaction of its human characters well, and is particularly strong with the scenes involving Old Grendel, an intelligent grendel no less. It also explores the impact of mankind on a new planet and its indigenous life forms. Indeed, Niven makes a strong case as to whether that most ugly creature - human nature, is the most dangerous thing of all on this new planet...
The story line is good and has its shares of shocks and surprises, and leads up to a powerful ending.
Overall this book is a very good read and I can recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first. ... Read more

Product Description
For fifty thousand years the Kzinti Patriarchy thrived on battle fought for conquest. Against all odds the humans stopped them, and for five wars kept on stopping them. With its violent expansion checked internal strains have built up within the Patriarchy, and now they threaten to tear it apart. When the ambitious Kchula-Tzaatz makes a bid for ultimate power the established order comes tumbling down, and the flames of war burn hot in Destiny's Forge. Hammered on that Forge are; Major Quacy Tskombe, battle hardened warrior turned diplomat. His life is duty, his mission takes him to the Citadel of the Patriarch in a last ditch effort to avert war. When it all falls apart he's forced to choose between love and loyalty, with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance. Captain Ayla Cherenkova, starship commander. As talented as she is beautiful, her hatred of the Kzinti has driven her to the top. Her space combat genius is unmatched, but when she's trapped alone in the jungles of Kzinhome her survival will depend on a whole new skillset. Pouncer, First-Son-of-Meerz-Rritt, heir apparent to the galaxy's most powerful empire, now a nameless fugitive with the collapse of his father's dynasty. Survival demands escape, but honor demands vengeance, and the price of his Name will be paid in the blood of worlds.

Paul Chafe presents a masterpiece in the grand tradition of epic science fiction. No fan of Larry Niven's best-selling Known Space series can miss Destiny's Forge. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

To complete collection
Larry Niven may not like this tale, or accepted the changes it put on his Kzinti construct, but this is a good tale and well worth living in that universe.

Cat Scratch Fever!
This was the first Man-Kzin Wars book I read, and I was thoroughly impressed.The plot is dramatic and engaging from the get-go, with dynamic and interesting characters throughout.I especially liked the detailed descriptions of Kzin society and social behaviour.Some have criticized this work for being overlong, but I never found myself getting bored with the brisk pace and compelling weave of the story.Without a doubt, I would declare this book to be the Magnum Opus of the series, as I don't see an adventure of this scale and scope being topped easily.It has something for everyone; military action, intrigues and palace plotting, romance, social/political commentary, with just enough of the fantasy element to enrich the overall tale without discrediting the basis in hard sci-fi.
By the end of this book you will probably finding yourself loving the Kzin as a species, and admiring the nobility and strength of honor in the residents of Kzinhome.

Bloated, with horrid editing errors and a cliche plot
I gave this two stars because I actually finished reading this overlong book. Otherwise I have to class it with one of the worst books I have ever read.

The book has unbelievably sloppy editing, with many mistakes in continuity. For example, in one scene a character gets out of a pool and dries himself off with a towel and then moments later hasn't left the pool yet (yes, I wrote the preceding deliberately and without any errors). These types of mistakes shocked me quite a bit until I realized that I would give good odds that some sort of fight erupted between the author and the editor because basic proofreading seems lacking. And to the publisher: for shame!

This really needed a lot of cutting. And I liked Heinlein's "I Will Fear No Evil" too (a book that he could not cut before publication due to an illness and who many critics think way too long). So if I think it needed tightening up it then it needed it. A lot. It read like the editor didn't exist at all. Maybe he didn't.

The writing plods. The plot enters the realm of the utterly predictable and boring. The Kzinti act like people (exotic people, but still people and not Kzinti). Niven hands over one of the most interesting aliens in Known Space to this writer, and he turns them into people from Dune, in effect.

I cannot even believe all the stuff ripped off from Dune, with the serial numbers filed off and repackaged as new. Just appalling. And the very amateurish style does not help; the sex scenes, in particular, just seemed sophomoric and embarrassing, as if a 12 year old virgin wrote them. The author has a particular problem with writing realistic dialog.

Did I mention his problem handling action? He had a basic repertoire of about four methods for Kzinti to dispatch each other when they fought and which he used almost exclusively. Boring.

I could make a large list of the inconsistencies present in this book, but if anyone actually decides to read it they can make up their own list and maybe get some credit on a book report or something.

Still, I finished this damnably long book, even though I could easily predict the ending (and much else) after about 100 pages into it. So I gave it two stars for that, instead of the one star that a boring, predictable, and poorly written novel deserves. But I did come very close to not finishing it.

I kind of wish I hadn't finished it, because I expected the ending to go on a little longer than it did. A short epilog would have improved things immensely. but I now see that the writer lacked the ability to "win the peace" and wrap things up in an interesting way at the end.

What I want to know: the author, I can forgive, up to a point; clearly he doesn't know any better. But what about the publisher and especially the editor? What happened with them? How could an editor not even do basic proofreading?

Oh, and the lack of chapters didn't help either. I suspect, again, some issue that the publisher had (trying to save paper?) and therefore removing the chapter headings, etc. I found that very annoying. And the pretentious sayings all over the place that purport to come from Kzinti sages just pained me (well, maybe this explains why they always lose). Worse, instead of feeling sympathy for the Kzinti, as I feel certain the author wished, I actually wanted to see them totally exterminated (unusual for me, to say the least).

Oh, well, why go on? Unless you just *have* to read a novel involving the Kzinti, I recommend you avoid this stinker. To the author: keep trying, but get yourself a good editor next time. Please.

this novel will suck you in...
This novel actually gives a great deal of backstory on Kzinti history & culture. it fills in a lot of the gaps that i wanted to know in prior Man-Kzin stories.if you are a fan of this series, you MUST read this book! i'm reading it for the 3rd time and STILL can't put it down! it is that good! anyone who says it's not worth it wouldn't be satisfied by ANYTHING published--EVER.
go ahead and buy it--you WON'T be disappointed!!!
~karen ;)

The best of the bunch
I've read the entire series, and this is easily the best. Now we know why a Kzin isa Kzin. The writing is superb and the character development is something we haven't seen before. Bravo!!!!!!!!! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

The "Good" Book
Want an up to date view of Hell?This book still has it.Originally released in 1976 (I think)I purchased it as a new paperback and between several moves and divorces lost my copy.Got a used one and am falling in love with this book all over again.If you have read The Mote in Gods Eye and liked it,you will love this book.Totally different but Niven and Pourneele go together like peanut butter and chocolate.BUY THIS BOOK !!

Classic Niven still holds up very well
This is the exact release I read way back when I was ten that first started my life long love affair with Niven's imagination.I picked this up before the recent re-print which is fine with me.

One HELL of a ride! :)
Hmmmm a very very good read!

I bought this, oddly enough, at a local Catholic charity shop many years ago. I was put off by the cover but liked the premise of a Re-telling of Dante's' Inferno (Written in Language *I* can *understand*).

What I got went beyond my wildest desires! From page two Carpentier's narrative takes off and doesn't let go. The pacing is fast and it never gets preachy. It is in some cases giggle out loud funny (in a dark sort of way) and while the ending is (I consider) a little weak, it by no means detracts from the whole.

Put it on your list if you like otherworldly speculative fiction.

Excellent.

Serialization
I read this back when it was originally published as a serialization in a Sci Fi mag.I enjoyed it and I am looking forward to the sequel which I understand is in process.I was intrigued enough to find a copy of Dante's inferno to compare.

tremendous, irreverent fun
The Niven and Pournelle duo has written a wide array of science fiction novels of dramatically variable quality.Therefore, I was not expecting much when I bought "Inferno," but I figured that--for such a brief work (way fewer than two hundred pages)--I really had nothing to lose.Boy, was I pleasantly surprised!What a wacky adventure!You see, after being chucked out the window of his luxury apartment, Carpentier "awakens" to find himself tucked into a bottle among the limitless detritus strewn about a sandy plain.He is extricated and helped to his feet by--of all things--the ghost of Benito Mussolini.Being rather derogatively classified by the judge of the dead, Carpentier reluctantly accepts not only his fate, but also--determined to see Satan and sort out the mess--Mussolini's offer to conduct him through the nine layers of Hell to the Master's abode.Our hero is exposed to a limitless variety of both psychological torments (like the team on the riverbank that frenetically builds a bridge while the team on the opposite bank equally frantically tears it down) and classic physical tortures.One wonders whether the authors actually read Dante or merely adopted what they needed from a more lightweight source, perhaps Blake's excerpted illustrations prepared in accompaniment thereto.Carpentier ultimately makes it through all nine layers and--well, I won't tell you the ending and spoil the story.Suffice it to say that those who were disappointed by putative N&P "classics" (like "Lucifer's Hammer," supposedly a spellbinding story of earth's destruction by a huge comet, but actually [up to page 350, where I nixed it] a deliverer of nothing but endless, distracting sexual escapades among various men and other men's wives [it reminded me of Benchley's "Jaws"--which I approached with some excitement at the age of twelve, just after seeing the movie--but which was profoundly disappointing when I discovered that it devoted all of ten pages to the shark hunt, expending the other three hundred plus pages on Hooper screwing Brody's wife and Brody screwing Quint's wife and Hooper's sister blowing the mayor and such]).No, this one is different: it's fun, it's witty, it's concise, it's wholly original.The entire narrative (told in the first person) is couched in Carpentier's continual, sarcastic debate with himself over whether he's really in Hell or on some alien world: he doesn't believe in Hell, but why would an alien be so disturbed by simony that he'd punish one guilty of it by locking him head-downward into a box and setting perpetual fire to the soles of his exposed feet?The story also brims with mythological references, particularly to the classic Greek and Roman traditions, that should delight the more erudite reader.

(I would have assigned four and one-half stars were I able--I mean, "King Lear" it ain't--but such gradations are not supported.) ... Read more

Product Description
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Customer Reviews (2)

Not Free SF Reader
This collection boasts a few team-ups, one of which is the Hugo nominated Locusts story, and Talisman is a standard second world fantasy type story, to go along with the other miscellaneous sf stories.

The second part of the book contains several of the tales from the Draco's Tavern setting.

A reasonable set of stories, having a 3.36 average.

Limits : The Lion in His Attic - Larry Niven
Limits : Spirals - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Limits : A Teardrop Falls - Larry Niven
Limits : Talisman - Larry Niven and Dian Girard
Limits : Flare Time - Larry Niven
Limits : The Locusts - Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
Limits : Yet Another Modest Proposal: The Roentgen Standard - Larry Niven
Limits : Table Manners - Larry Niven
Limits : The Green Marauder - Larry Niven
Limits : War Movie - Larry Niven
Limits : The Real Thing - Larry Niven
Limits : Limits - Larry Niven

Weres dinner.

3 out of 5


Funeral for a Moonbase shanghai mutiny friend.

4 out of 5


Berserker fortress upload takeover return revenge.

3.5 out of 5


Worth her weight in gold.

3.5 out of 5


Fuxed up entertainment production mission.

3.5 out of 5


Monkey kid evolutionary peak.

4 out of 5


Hunting games.

2.5 out of 5


Old tourist fancies a drink.

3 out of 5


Pacificism ain't entertainment.

3.5 out of 5


Imported booze.

3 out of 5


Casual immortality cutoff.

3.5 out of 5





3.5 out of 5

More help needed
Limits is a modest collection of science fiction and fantasystories from Larry Niven.Although he has some interesting ideas,it's clear that the short story format is not really Niven's forte. Indeed, the strongest pieces in this volume are those written in collaboration with other writers.Among the fantasies, for example, the mystical feel of "Talisman" (written with Dian Girard) is far more effective than the humdrum restaurant setting of the wholly forgettable "Lion in the Attic".In the former, a beautiful young thief matches wits with crafty magicians to try and find a legendary treasure, while in the latter, a restaurant owner hides a secret from some mysterious travelers.And while "Talisman" draws us in with its subtle characterization and constant movement, "Lion" keeps its secrets until the end, by which time the reader has lost interest in the outcome.Niven gets plenty of help from his collaborators in the science fiction vein as well."Spirals", with Jerry Pournelle, is an inside look at how space mining began in the asteroid belt, wherein the reader discovers that the main characters, who are later lauded as heroes, were actually very flawed human beings, who acted from the basest and most primitive of motives.In the moving story "The Locusts", written with Steven Barnes, a group of bright, strong and energetic colonials deal with the discovery that their efforts are doomed.The heroes' plight is portrayed with understated drama and a fair amount of realism to make for an unforgettable tale.In both of these stories, the authors emphasize the essential humanity of their characters (despite the science fiction trappings), and this is what gives their stories such a powerful impact.When Niven is on his own, however, he sometimes loses sight of this simple principle."A Teardrop Falls" is a Berserker story, for fans of such, and shows how a machine cleverly tricks another machine. Without any emotional attachment, the story hinges on the cleverness of the trick, which in this case is no big deal."Flare Time" deals with adventure on another planet, and has some entertaining features, but tends to be a little unfocused.Niven tries to do too much with this story, introducing new species, an entire series of new environments, etc., and would have been better off writing a short novel that used the same characters and locale.As it is, the reader is rushed through the journey too quickly to appreciate Niven's many inventions. Rounding out the collection are the chirpsithtra shorts, which feature Niven's tall-tale-telling aliens spinning yarns in a spaceport bar. Chirpthistra stories are meant to be amusing, but occasionally Niven slips some serious ideas in as well.Of these, "War Movie" has the most interesting payoff, while "Folk Tale" falls so flat one can almost hear the thud.All in all not a bad collection, but still nothing like the quality we find in Niven's better novels. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Gotta Love Larry
The version I have is from the third printing in 1975.
Good short stories, nice to have on the shelf to re-read from time to time and share with fantasy / sci-fi fans.

Not Free SF Reader
A collection of stories, several of which are about a time agent's missions to collect rare animals from earth's past from a far future time.They have a humorous bent as the hapless servant does the will of his political master.

There is a Warlock story - What Good Is A Glass Dagger, and also his Flash Crowd look at mass teleportation.

A funny, quirky time-travel story
One of Niven's best works.Svetz is an excellent character, and his animal-collecting adventures are hilarious.Niven has a vivid imagination, a good grounding in the lore of mythical beasts, and skillfully weaves the time-traveling thread in this enjoyable collection of tales."Glass Dagger" has a great twist and is fun for anyone who likes the were-wolf genre; "Flash Crowd" is the only vignette that falls a little short of expectation. Definitely a "thumbs-up" for the fantasy reader.

Time travel is fantasy...and the traveler doesn't know it!
They sent Svetz back in time to procure a horse for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, a very pleasant but rather inbred young man (that's what comes of having the same family rule the world for seven hundred years) who was fond of animals. He came back with a unicorn. Oops. Next assignment: go back in time and get a gila monster, also extinct by Svetz's time. He came back with a dragon. Oh, well. Such is the life of Svetz, the time-traveler with incomparably bad karma, whose misadventures are dealt with in five of the seven stories in "The Flight of the Horse." All are a comedic blend of science fiction/fantasy, involving parallel timelines, changing the past, and the problem that, if time travel is pure fantasy (as is frequently claimed) than a time traveler visits not the scientific past but fantasy offshoots of their timeline (Svetz doesn't know this, of course, which makes it all the more fun). The other two storiesare "Flash Crowd" ! and "What Good Is A Glass Dagger?", the first involving displacement booths--the practical equivalent of teleportation--and the other a swords-and-sorcery tale about an ancient warlock, a young werewolf, and the dangers of magic depletion. All in all, an enjoyable collection. The character of Svetz, desperately trying to keep the Secretary-General happy without getting killed by various mythological animals, is a particular favorite of mine, dauntlessly going off into the wilds of history to return with dragons, unicorns, rocs, werewolves, and talking skeletons. Ah, well, it's all in a day's work. Enjoy! ... Read more

Product Description
After losing three significant battles to the humans, the Kzin begin to wonder if their combative diplomatic style is working and decide to reevaluate their strategy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

This is a good one...
I just read the first story, "In the Hall of the Mountain King". It's an excellent homage to the old Humphrey Bogart movie,"Treasure of the Sierra Madre". It has enough Known Space detail that I didn't realize it until Jonah and two Kzin were in the mountains with an old man and some mules, panning for gold. I especially liked how the authors avoided Goldhat and his now infamous "Badges...We don't need no stinking badges" line - instead replacing him with Ed "Ti Kwan Leep/Boot to the Head" Gruedermann (by the Fanatics as heard on Doctor Demento).
5 Stars just for this story.

Second best of the series so far.
Like volume IV, (and unlike I-III) this book contains only two stories, rather than three. Unlike volume IV, the stories are a bit more even in length, 202 and 129 pages respectively. The first story, by Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling, is a continuation of their story in volume III of the series, and is quite good, more interesting than I've found any of their previous stories set in the Wunderland system. The second story, by Thomas T. Thomas, is a little bit of a comedown from the quality of the first story, but only a little bit; it's much better than the second story in volume IV of the series.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, I wouldn't really advise starting with this book, although it wouldn't be as disastrous a mistake as starting with book five of SOME series. All you REALLY need to know going in is that Kzinti are a sentient, spacefaring race evolved from carnivorous hunting cats, seven feet tall and 500 pounds of mighty warrior who consider it marginally dishonorable to plan an attack against so trivial an opponent as an omnivorous monkey, and whose general "strategy" amounts to "first you scream and then you leap". For this reason, and this reason alone, humanity always wins in the long run. The short run, however, can get quite unpleasant for the unwary monkeyboys.

The entire series is excellent, and highly recommended.

Cool.
A lot of the later Man-Kzin Wars stories take place on or in the vicinity of Wunderland, which I just find utterly cool considering the ways the authors use this locale.I WANNA FIGHT IN A MAN-KZIN WAR!!! ... Read more